Ativan For Flight Anxiety

Severe anxiety in certain situations is a very common and disabling condition for some individuals. Good examples of this are fear of flying and severe claustrophobia. Ativan is a commonly prescribed medication for this type of phobic situation. In most instances patients with severe anxiety or panic in the face of procedures like MRI or CT scan which require getting into small spaces or similar symptoms prior to airline travel a single dose of the benzodiazepines like Ativan can be extremely helpful.

Typically patients with this type of phobia respond nicely to a single dose of Ativan of 0.5 to 1 mg dosage taken 30 to 60 min. prior to boarding the airplane or entering the MRI tube. It’s very important in these situations for a person to not put themselves in the situation where they need to drive home from the procedure or where they are traveling alone and could become confused to put themselves in danger from the effects of Ativan. In some individuals Ativan can cause significant loss of physical coordination, poor reaction time, and loss of inhibition or poor judgment. It usually not recommended take Ativan for flight anxiety when traveling alone unless an individual has experience with the medication and is certain that it won’t interfere with their safe movement through the airport and boarding the airplane. In the case of procedures like MRI very important for an individual to have someone drive them to and from the appointment so that they won’t put themselves or others at risk of a motor vehicle accident.

Often times four per person being prescribed Ativan for the first time for flight anxiety it’s best to try the medication at least a few days ahead when they don’t need to travel soon they will have some idea what to expect from the prescribed dosage. This can be helpful in that if a person’s prescribed 1 mg of Ativan for example and they become very somnolence to have difficulty staying awake they mean with uses a lower dose for example 0.5 mg instead of the full 1 mg dosage.

Alternatives to Ativan for these situations include other benzodiazepines like Xanax (alprazolam). This very little difference in the efficacy of these two medications for these indications and their often used relatively interchangeably. If a specific patient has experience with one of the other these medications and it’s worked well this probably no reason for them to try the other.

One Response to “Ativan For Flight Anxiety”

My wife has to book flights for me without telling me and then give me ativan for the day or two prior to the flight. It works pretty well, but I wish there was some way to get over this irrational fear of flying. Knowing I have a trip coming up puts me over the top anxious from the time I know about the planned flight until after I am home again. We do mostly car vacations to avoid this, and I had to quit my job that involved travel to take a lesser paying job where I don’t have to fly. Totally sucks.